Oh, Christmas Tree

Spencer helped me decorate the Christmas tree, continuing the now 2 year old tradition.  He also spontaneously burst into "Oh, Christmas Tree," which was too precious and hilarious to adequately describe.  

He would not rest until every Christmas ornament he could see was on the tree (I've hidden away the glass ones, which will reappear about the time Spencer leaves for college).  

He did so well, and he seemed so grown up.  

He was very serious about his assigned task, and he chastised Jonathan and me if we paused from our work.  

We waited until Evelyn was down for her nap, and it was a sweet, peaceful time for Jonathan, me, and our first born little love.  

i had to convince him to save the star for last, and when it was time, he was so excited, just like last year.  

Someday he'll know what an exceptionally special dad he has.  

Here he is, so proud of his hard work.

When Evelyn woke up, she helped by un-decorating the tree.  And she continued to help in that way the entire Christmas season.  When Spencer was this age, I skipped the Christmas tree altogether!

To be fair, she did try to put them back on too.

This year there have been countless funny, sweet, and odd Christmas stories I've wanted to remember as we try to teach the kids about Christmas, and as they encounter the larger "Christmas culture."  I managed to jot down a few of them.

After I'd let Spencer watch "The Grinch that stole Christmas" a couple of times, he told me that he had a plan to "stole" Christmas and then did his evil laugh.  That wasn't the exactly the point I was hoping the movie would convey, but it was funny.

At Music and Missions on Wednesday night, they did a craft where they put a little cut out person into a manger they had glued "hay" on.  When I ran into our Children's pastor, she was cracking up, and told me that Spencer looked at what he was supposed to glue into the manger and told his teacher, "That's not baby Jesus, it's a gingerbread man!"  And, he was right.  "Baby Jesus" as the exact shape of the stereotypical gingerbread man.  You tell, 'em, Spencer.  Not much is going to get by him.

The new Christmas movie for Spencer this year, was VeggieTales' "The Little Drummer Boy."  In it, they mention the legendary names of the three wise men--Melchior, Casper, and Balthazar.  Spencer surprised me with his interest in their names and with his ability to remember them.  I still continue to forget.  His speech therapist had to work hard  to keep up with the details this Christmas season.  

Celebrating Christmas with my babies is one of my favorite things I've experienced in life so far.